On Valanciunas: At the very least hes Joakim Noah. Big time energy, runs the floor, rebounds.
Good on the pick and roll and rolling to the basket hasn't developed a consistent jump
shot from the elbow yet. Something you can't teach is his energy (motor) which is an NBA
skill when your big guys are like that its a plus. Gonna learn how to play post D without fouling
but likes how physical he is and we need that with our bigs. Wants him to earn the starters job
but wants Aaron Gray to start if hes resigned or even Amir Johnson to start. Said it will take
some time for him to learn the nuances of the NBA game wants him to kick Gray and
Amirs butt in practice before he earns the starting job and keep it.

On Bargnani: The same questions about Bargnani Dirk faced up until he won the championship
last year. Bargnani proved to the coaching staff he can play defense sometimes you have to
kick him in the butt but he can play defense. He can impact the ball in a pick n roll defense
he can challenge shots because he is 7 foot. The one area he really disappointed him in was
his rebounding which they talked about in their exit meeting hes got to do a better job at
going after rebounds attacking being more tenacious even if he has to grab a rebound from
his teammates hands be greedy with it and its one area Casey knows he can get better at.
When he took the job and talked to everybody in the Eastern Conference they said Bargnani
has potential...but...potential will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

On Calderon: Jose really impressed him he didn't know how quick he was didn't know if he
was quick enough to guard the Derrick Roses of the world but he showed him in their defensive
system he can keep guys in front of him.

On DeRozan: Started out shaky...missed some big shots in close games and thats the area they
really need to develop him in is to be a "closer". Hes gonna be one of the guys who's gonna
be in the end of games and hes gotta be able to be a closer. Showed him he can read defenses,
pin downs, pick n roll situations, when to attack, when to shoot his jumper and that was a
big question mark about him. Like a lot of our guys "being close is not enough" he has to get
stronger he has to get his body physically ready to play with the big SG's in the East and thats
DeMars next step if he wants to be what we want him to be which is a big time player.

- We couldn't score
- We couldn't get a balance with our defense and scoring
- Scoring is "talent"
- Scoring is "experience"
- Bryan is gonna address it this summer
- We have flexibility to make moves to get experience and guys who can score
- If we had a healthy Bargnani we'd probably be knocking on the door of the playoffs but
it would probably be a tough place to be because your in that mediocrity spot if you get the
8th seed and you go against a Miami or so and I know we don't have the weapons to beat
them in a 7 game series.
- This was a year about building and they did that, this summer is about taking the next step.

he should have answered questions about winning games that we had no business winning. if one of the 4th to 7th seeded teams wins the lottery...i will never forgive him.

obviously im not being serious...but it still kind of sucks that he motivated a bunch of TEMPS to win games that screwed us over in the end.

those wins were tough to take, (still doesn't feel right saying that!) But i made a point in another thread that it would've hurt casey legitmacy as coach if he'd gone on soft on them in a few games. He's made a whole mantra about "pound the rock" and instilled a culture in the team. If he goes against that, even just those 2 times i think it could've changed players' opinions of him, even just slightly.